How HomeKit can help you celebrate Valentine's Day

If you've begun to outfit your home with smart home accessories you can add an extra layer of magic to your Valentine's Day celebrations with home automation triggers and scenes.

As an example, let's look at some fun stuff you can do to woo your boo for Valentine's Day!

Turn down the lights

In this project we're going to use a smart lock to automate the dimming of smart lights in your home. In my home, I've four Philips Hue bulbs in four different lamps in my living room and they can all be triggered by an automation.

Launch the Home app.

Tap Automation in the bottom right corner (looks like an alarm clock).

Tap Create new Automation.

Tap An Accessory is Controlled.

Choose the Accessory that will serve as the automation trigger. I will be choosing the August Smart Lock installed on my front door.

Tap Next.

Tap Unlocks. This will trigger the automation when the front door unlocks.

Tap Next.

Choose a Scene or Accessories to trigger. I will be choosing my living room lights.

Tap Next.

Tap on the Accessories to adjust their settings to your satisfaction.

Tap Done.

If you have Philips Hue White and Color bulbs you can also add a color change to the bulbs when you adjust their settings. Consider setting the scene with a romantic red or pink color.

Now you can ask Siri to trigger this Scene by saying, "Hey Siri, get cozy!"; you can trigger this Scene by tapping on it within the Home app; or you can trigger this Scene by tying it to an Automation.

When I ask Siri to get cozy, my ecobee thermostat begins heating the house to 75º F and turns on the fireplace!

Get silly

Valentine's Day can be a super serious or it can be super fun — that's up to you. If you're looking to get a little silly on Valentine's Day with the help of home automation, you might consider doing this next project. Just make sure your partner's the type to get a kick out of something like this before you give it a go.

This project will require a fan, some confetti, a small table, a smart lock (I recommend the August Smart Lock), and a smart plug (I recommend the iDevices Switch).

Love is in the air with HomeKit

Love (and confetti) are in the air when you use HomeKit and home automation accessories to add a little magic to your Valentine's Day. These projects are just scratching the surface of what you can do with home automation products and HomeKit. Speaking of which, what kind of fun projects have you created with your home automation accessories? Anything related to Valentine's Day?

Mikah Sargent

Mikah Sargent is Senior Editor at Mobile Nations. When he's not bothering his chihuahuas, Mikah spends entirely too much time and money on HomeKit products. You can follow him on Twitter at @mikahsargent if you're so inclined.